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Police seize ballot boxes at Catalan polling stations

Spanish police have clashed with voters as thousands of people flocked to the polls to vote in the Catalonia independence referendum.

​Spanish national police have sealed off 1,300 of 2,315 schools in Catalonia designated as polling stations for the banned independence referendum, the government in Madrid says.

According to the BBC, Catalonia, a wealthy region of 7.5 million people in north-eastern Spain, has its own language and culture.
Tens of thousands of people are expected to vote in Sunday’s ballot, which has been declared illegal by Spain’s Constitutional Court.
They have been ordered to clear schools occupied by activists – including parents and their children who remained in the buildings after the end of lessons on Friday – aiming to ensure the buildings can be used for voting.
Officers have have also been seizing items such as ballot papers, while prosecutors have ordered the closure of websites linked to the vote and the arrest of officials organising the referendum.
“Everything is prepared at the more than 2,000 voting points so they have ballot boxes and voting slips, and have everything people need to express their opinion,” he said.